Originally Posted by thebishman

Not sure what you mean by this.

I've been tracking cars for 16 years. Most who know me would say that I am a very accomplished HPDE advanced group driver. I in no way would consider myself a 'professional' or anywhere close to that level; neither do I wish to be. However, from past experience I know that various modifications to the car, especially in the suspension dept. can, and do enable one to decrease one's track time by 2-5 seconds on many tracks.

If by lowering the Black; having a competition alignment; adjusting the re-bound and compression and running on DOT track tyres will lower my lap times by 2-5 seconds; it's well worth it, at least to me.

Bish

Originally Posted by alexander stemer

This may sound odd, but the question is, "Why?"
There is always a faster, lighter car that is another 3 seconds quicker. If you aren't overheating the engine, frying the brakes, or rolling the front tires onto the sidewalls, then the car is good enough. The point of track driving is to maximize your skills, not "beat" some other guy. Modding is needed on lots of cars because the brake pedal goes to the floor, or you grind off the outer edge of the front tires, or the understeer is so prominent that you are just driving around the outside edge of the corner or forcing rotation with the brakes.
The BS will do all of the things it needs to do to allow you to put in as many laps as you want. Turn off the traction control (because otherwise you will heat the brakes unknowingly), and let the rear tires warm up, then bleed the rears down to about 40, and use a pyrometer to adjust the fronts. I tend to wind up with about 44 front, but it may vary right/left, depending on track, temps, etc.
Your first five laps will always be an adventure, because the front turns in better than the rear wants to stick. Have fun. AS

Originally Posted by SMP

Since you've been doing track days for 16 years, my post should make sense to you. The CLK63 BS is one of the few cars that has all the necessary components from the factory to be a track worthy car, without doing any additional changes. I agree with others here that it needs some fine tuning in ride height, compression and rebound settings, stiffer springs and a good alignment after you familiarized yourself with the car on track. I got a pretty good idea of the handling characteristics after driving the car on some twisty street roads, but not until I had my first track day I decided to change some suspension components and settings. At least that is how I set up my cars.

I would suggest after you bought the car to take it to the track and gather information on how the car reacts to your inputs and make changes according to your driving style, not someone else's. Then share your thoughts with people on this board that have years of intimate knowledge of tracking their BS's. I'm confident that you will get all kind of great replies to any of your set up questions.

Originally Posted by thebishman

Again, sound advice. If I'm able to get a BS without being raped on the trade-in, I would in fact hardly do anything to the car other than what you mentioned; (ride height; alignment, then adjusting rebound and compression IF necessary based on the specifics of the track, etc.). Maybe Evo rotors and pads to save the OEM units before seriously hitting the track. That's it. I would want to keep the car as stock as possible since it is already such a capable road and track car.

Bish